New technological
advancements, including multislice CT scanners and functional MRI,
have dramatically increased the size and number of digital images
generated by medical imaging departments, with more and more CT
studies producing 5000 images. In addition, storage needs are
predicted to further increase when departments are required to archive
3D volume renderings and other complex advanced image reformats.
Despite the fact that the cost of storage is dropping, the savings are
largely surpassed by the increasing volume of data being generated.
Access to imaging data is becoming more widespread as regions/ nations
implement Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions. To satisfy these expectations,
Canada Health Infoway is driving the deployment of imaging repositories
that host data on-line for the legal
retention period and, in some instances for the lifetime of the
patient. However, efficiently moving the data between institutions
requires wide area network bandwidth, which has a limited availability
at a national level. This seminar will examine the challenge of
dealing with the massive and potentially overwhelming amount of
imaging data produced during today s and tomorrow s diagnostic exams.
It explains and provides an analysis of techniques that allow us to
cope with exponentially-escalating storage and transmission demands
while ensuring the preservation of image quality required for diagnosis.

About the Speaker

David Koff is an
Associate Professor of Radiology and Chair of the Department of Radiology
at McMaster University as well as the Chief Radiologist at Hamilton Health
Science Centre. Prior to this, he operated a large private
radiology group for 18 years, and then after 2 years of clinical
fellowship at the University Health Network, Toronto, he joined the
Montreal Heart Institute and later Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in
Toronto. David has been involved for many years in Medical Imaging
Informatics research projects and education programs, especially medical
image transmission over the Internet through Easy Pax Inc., a Canadian private
corporation he created, specialized in teleradiology and medical
digital imaging. He has worked extensively on image compression. He is
a co-founder and co-chair of IHE Canada.

For more informationShirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074

Seminar Hosts This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health
Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.

The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in
1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding
partners were: LivePage (now part of Oracle), MKS, Open Text, RIM,
Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.

We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute for
Computer Research, University of Waterloo.